We are honored to review Christmas for a Dollar, directed by
John Lyde.
Also, as I said last week, many Christmas films of this
nature have a solid formula, many based on true stories focused on helping
souls through the holidays. Christmas
for a Dollar is one of these films.
The story takes place during the depression. The Kamp family is plagued with challenges
that started with the passing of the mother, leaving father William Kamp (Brian
Krause, known for his role in the TV show Charmed) to make due with his 5
children. He does this with a stern
attitude of self-reliance to an almost negative degree.
Meanwhile, the family is very poor due to the doctor bills from
the youngest son’s polio. And with
Christmas approaching, the father makes it clear that there won’t be much of a
Christmas. But eventually, the father
drums up enough pennies to make a dollar, which pretty much pays for their
Christmas. The father reminds the family
of the story of Christ when he fed 5000 with the limited fish and loaves of
bread.
The film follows the youngest boy, Norman (Jacob Buster), an adventurous boy who
consistently gets into trouble due to his limiting use of his leg and arm
because of polio.
He constantly trespasses a neighbors yard, to watch a horse,
dreaming of one day being able to ride one.
While sneaking into the horses stable, he accidentally leaves the door
open and the horse gets out, hurting his leg.
The owner of the horse, Mrs. Rathbone (Nancy Stafford) decides to put
the horse down, but Norman convinces her to try and keep the horse alive and
that he would help in the barn.
In the meantime, the new teacher at school Miss Mayfield
(Heather Beers) challenges the students to do good deeds and when they do, they
put marbles in a basket every time. This
becomes a lesson of honesty for the children.
Other events lead up to a Christmas that the family and the
neighborhood will not forget (you have to purchase the film to see the rest).
The film does have flaws that are consistent with low-budget
filmmaking, certain lines of dialogue, a few moments of acting imperfections,
adapting to the time-frame with costume and set design. But these are things that most viewers will
not see. For myself, by the climax,
those flaws are long forgotten because of the heart-warming story.
I do wonder about the two scenes toward the beginning of the
film where Norman dreams of being in the old west, if those are really part of
the story or just a chance to add a different tension to the film. (I know the
director and he loves to do action, and he does it pretty well on a budget)
They just seemed out of place for me.
The cast is great and the story is great. Go purchase the film and make it part of your
annual Christmas viewing. Rated PG for
some bullying…it doesn’t say that, but it does say “for mean behavior”. (I would love to rate some kids behavior
today myself.)
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